Transportation

There are many forms of transportation used in the Locus. As one might expect from the nature of this setting, most of them involve magic in some form or another.

Interplanetary travel: There are two principal methods to travel between worlds. Both of them involve teleportation.

The easiest way to get between planets is by seed teleportation. Seed teleporters are stable two-way gates linking distant locations. The drawback to seed teleporters is that they are few in number, tend to be in awkward locations, and are more or less random in their distribution of destinations; the locations of seed teleporters have little or no correlation with major trade routes. Also, because they are fixed locations that are few in number, it is easy for governments to restrict access to them. Those seeking to bypass tariffs or other trade regulations, or those seeking to surreptitiously cross borders, need an alternate means of interplanetary travel.

The other way to get between planets is by astral televation. Astral televation opens a lot more routes than seed teleportation. The drawback is that astral televators only open once a day. Also, an astral televator is a one way gate, and its destination varies each time it is used; if one wants to return to one's world of origin, it is necessary to travel overland to the nearest return astral televator. Also, while astral televation opens more routes than seed teleportation, it is not unlimited: astral televators to a particular world must all be placed at a single latitude, determined by the celestial position of their destination. Despite these restrictions, astral televation is an important means of interplanetary travel because it is so comparatively accessible.

Overland travel: The fastest way to travel overland is by conduit teleportation. However, this option is unavailable in most places, forcing travelers to resort to slower and more difficult forms of travel.

For long distances, especially over open terrain, hoverships are best. Hoverships are fast, they can carry a lot of cargo or passengers, and they get all of their energy from the wind which means they are inexpensive to operate. The main drawback to hoverships is that they have a difficult time operating on uneven terrain or inside cities.

For shorter distances, hovercarts are common. These animal-powered levitating vehicles are more maneuverable than hoverships, and can navigate smaller spaces. Unfortunately, they also carry less, and the cost of maintaining an animal to pull them means they are more expensive to operate.

On very uneven terrain, airships have the advantage. Able to cross mountains with ease, they are ideal for getting to hard-to-reach places. However, they are not as fast as hoverships, and not exactly inexpensive to operate in most cases. This tends to restrict them to routes where the ability to cross difficult terrain is of primary importance.

For short distances, people will sometimes use hoverskates to move around. These are particularly important militarily, as many armies use them to boost the maneuverability of their infantry. Otherwise, they are commonly used by hoverrickshaw drivers.

Overland infrastructure: In order to make travel easier, most countries consider it wise to invest in fixed infrastructure along major trade routes. The exact type of infrastructure employed depends on the resources of the nation involved and the value of the trade route.

Cast roads are the simplest form of infrastructure used. Basically, a cast road is simply a fast and cheap means of paving an area. Cast roads are usually of poor quality, but then if they wear out they are easy to replace.

Teleport conduits are the infrastructure of choice where traffic is high and resources are plentiful. Teleport conduits are similar to wires except that instead of transmitting energy they transmit people. While they are expensive to create and install, the advantages of teleportation over other means of travel are fairly obvious.

Overseas travel: The only widely used means to cross oceans is by hovership. Mundane (buoyant) ships are possible to construct, but are not very reliable. A mundane ship will sink if it has a single leak, whereas a hovership will float if all but four of its hoverpods are functional. Also, hoverships are fast enough to outrun storms, which means they do not have to operate in rough seas. While hoverships can only carry limited cargo compared to a buoyant ship of similar cost, they can compensate for this by using their superior speed to make a larger number of runs.

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